Martinsburg can't stop Fort Hill in a rout

CUMBERLAND, Md. -- For the majority of David Walker's tenure as Martinsburg football coach, the Bulldogs have been on the winning side of lopsided games.

Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium, the tables were turned on the 'Dogs.

Martinsburg had no answer for Fort Hill's offense -- whether running or throwing -- as the Sentinels rolled up 432 yards in a 41-14 rout of the Bulldogs in the renewal of their long-standing rivalry.

The 27-point margin of defeat was the largest for the Bulldogs since losing the 2006 Class AAA state final to Parkersburg, 34-6.

"That's as good a butt whoopin' as we've taken in a while," Walker said. "They have a great ball team. I'm not taking anything away from them, but I don't think we played near as good as we are. Maybe we came in here 4-0 and with a little more confidence than we should have.

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"They showed us how good we're not tonight."

The Sentinels (4-0), ranked 14th in Maryland this week, also showed how good they are. They ran at will on Martinsburg, gaining 340 yards on 44 carries, an impressive 7.7 yards-per-carry average.

Fort Hill did not turn the ball over, punted only twice and -- aside from kneeldowns at the end of the two halves -- had only two plays that resulted in negative yardage. Quarterback Devin Lee was perfect in the passing game, completing all four of his passes for 92 yards.

None of what the Sentinels did was a surprise to Walker and the Bulldogs.

They just couldn't stop it.

"You can look at a film of them from 20 years ago and it's basically the same," Walker said. "They have some speed this year that they haven't had in the past. But they just lined up and ran over us. It didn't matter what set they were in. They ran over us."

Martinsburg (4-1) moved the ball well on the game's opening drive, alternating between Kam Puller and David Gladden on the ground. Puller connected with David Hammond for an 18-yard gain to the Fort Hill 3, but an illegal shift penalty and a sack of Puller backed the Bulldogs up to the 8 and Drew Dopson pushed a 25-yard field goal attempt wide right.

The Sentinels wasted no time capitalizing, needing just five plays to move 80 yards. Lee's 60-yard pass to Walker, who made a nice over-the-shoulder catch, accounted for most of the yardage and Welsh powered into the end zone from the 3 to give Fort Hill a 7-0 lead.

The 'Dogs bounced back, driving 63 yards in nine plays to tie the score on Puller's 27-yard touchdown pass to David Arndt down the left seam.

Fort Hill answered quickly. Walker gained 44 yards up the middle and a personal foul penalty against Martinsburg tacked on 15 more yards to the Bulldogs 20. Welsh took it from there, gaining 12 and 8 yards on two plays for a 13-7 Fort Hill lead after one quarter.

After holding Martinsburg to a three-and-out, the Sentinels went with the run almost exclusively the rest of the night, almost daring the Bulldogs to try and stop them. They couldn't.

Lee scored on a 2-yard run and connected with Colton Sibley on the two-point conversion to make it 21-7. Then, following a failed fake punt by Martinsburg, Lee and Sibley hooked up for an 11-yard touchdown and a 27-7 lead.

"We figured we were going to have to score on every possession. We got down there, first-and-goal and got nothing out of it ... that hurt us," Walker said. "That may have hurt us emotionally. It might have made it a little closer at the end, but we just didn't have an answer for them tonight."